Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-09-17

THE GREAT AUik's BONES.
Treasures Brought frena Funk IsIAaa
| by the Grampas.
REMAINS OF THE EXTINCT BIRD THAT ONCE CLoUDKD
| THE NORTH ATIAETIC-coILsCTIoN AADk By Ma
| TON MUSEUM OFFICIALS In THE REGION or NEW.
| NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ABOUT THE BIRDS.
Several boxes and barrels have been received ct
| the Smithsonian from the Fish Commission
schooner Grampus, which recently finished q
cruise In the waters OF Newfoundland. These con-
tain the result Of the work OF Messrs F. A. Ltieas
ana VIM. Palmer, OF the National Museum, who
went with the Grampus for the purpose OF making
natural history collections In Newfoundland and
Labrador and the neighboring islands The main
OBJECT OF The trip Of Mr.. Lucas the oste0lerist OF
the Museum, was to secure collection Of bones OF
the great aux. His success was far beyond his
| expectations, as the 0rampus brought home .
collection OF the remains Of the aux which exceed
| in number all other collections tn the world put
together To an ordinary person, who would not
know great aux II he saw oAe, the be1es and
barrels brought home By Nj. Lucas contain
nothing but heaps OF discolored ana useless old
bones: Inc ernfthologist, however sets value
on this collection who could not be estimated In
dollars and cents
THE CHEAT AUk.
| OF the back numbers Of nature. Its remains now
are as highly priced by naturalists az some Old
print OF the sixteenth or seventeenth century by
the bibfOmaniac Once making their home IN the
| Islands OF the North Atlantic, the area OF their
ern Europe across the ocean to Newfoundland and
Labrador, Iceland and South G. eenland being in
Guided within the limit. they were In such mum
bers as To cause many references to be made to
them by the navigators OF the northern seas con-
teinporaries OF Columbus. The great aux was
re trt<N lnvu 49, a.
over two feet high. 1t had strong blu or beak,
something In the shape OF that OF the razor bin
81 ts Jp M and the one TO which T.
| lousy small wings These wings were useless for
purposes of flight, but were used for swimming
mer. With its weD feet In motion in the rear IKE
| a propeller and Its wings beating rapidly, 1t
h sn .eraly fly Through the water making
not overtake it. But ashore 1t was clumsy and
stupid creature.
MINIATURES IMAGE.
Mr.. Palmer brought home with MIN a murre. or
guillemot, member Of the same pathological
family as the great aux The mtirre has disported
itself during the last week In the pool around the
| fountain In the rOtunda Of the National Museum.
To one interested In the great aux, this relative
OF Inc extinct bird will be OF interest," rs is mod
eled in miniature very much on the same lines as
| the great aux. The murre, however, has more
wing, and can fly, and ny swiftly. too. It stands
on ks aux IKE s
Diving under the surface, 1t win use It's wings as
In flight, and make astonishing speed. The great
aux Is known to have made migratiOns extending
over hundreds OF miles, and depended solely on It's
powers as swimmer for such long journeys. It
was seen sometimes at sea, bufretiny the waves. a
hundred miles from land. It's head, neck, back,
throat and Breast were White White. It had a large
White spot between the eyes and the bill
HUNTED FROM THE MAIN LAND.
Before Europeans sought the American coast
the savages 1t is believed hunted the helpless birds
until they were driven to the rocks and Islands
far out at sea, inaccessible to the indians, with
| their primitive means OF navigation. But toward
the end OF the fifteenth century the bold sailors Of
the waters where the great auks kept their vigils
on the rocks, and the war OF determination began
Early writer's describe these birds IS found in
great numbers. On shore they fell easy prey to
the mariners. Sometimes plank was laid from
the ship TO the rocky island, or sail was spread
out like bridge, and over this the birds were
driven aboard, Ike so many geese. or they were
driven into pens and slaughtered With sticks
In such numbers were they found that ships sent
to the fishing banks were only Scant1ly supplied
with provisions, the dependence for supplies being
upon the great auks which nature had provided
lii such abundance
THE LAST SEEN ALIVE
The last authentic record OF the great auks hav.
ing been seen alive was in 1874 when two were
captured In Iceland. In 1862 one il said to have
been seen alive on the Newfoundland banks and
in 1852 q dead one-perhapS the last OF his race
as thiaKs III Trinity oBsy but
since 1874 are mistakes so many years have
elapsed since it is positively known one was seen
capped the great destruction AS it fre0iiented
isolated situations for the sake Of security little Is
OF ITS habits r., Il Ia lay but one ana this
provision was made Dy nature to repair the losses
caused by the wholesale destruction OF the harm.
om IN sk 20 e
brink, sometimes tumbl1ng into the water from
quite height, but once IN tile water, it was as
fed upon small FISH, which 1t caught with great
dexterity.
Until recently there were only four stuffed soe-
cnens in the United States, one at Vassar CoIlepa
one in the museum Of the Academy Of Sciences
Philadelphia, one at Cambridge, and one In the
Stuffed great aux was purcSased for the Mes
potan Museum In Central Park for $3.50. The one
belonging to the Smithsonian can now be seen
there, standing in case in one OF the exhibition
halls OF the museum building. Mounted on the
same stand is great aux egg. There are but ten
are Very rare and as much as 500 has been paid
for one at auction. The great aux has literature
all It's own. A number OF natural1sts have devoted
studying its traces. A volume, very Handsomely
bound, was recently published In England by
Symngton Grieves devoted entirely to the history,
arcnae0iogy and remains OF the great aux, or Rare
fowl.
WHERE THE AUX BONES WERE FOUND.
The place where Mr.. Lucas made his md was on
FUNK lsIanu, OH Cne northeast coast OF New.
foundland This is q lonely island, with
precipitous rocky sides, like fortress in
the sea. Even In ordinary weather the sea
beats angrily against the rocks, making N
exceedingly dangerous tOland. When tSe weather
is rough the Island Is practically inaccessible By
good luck the Grampus sighted Funk Island at q
time when there was an unusual calm, and the
party that went ashore had two days OF good
weather to search and dig It was on this island.
In 1853 and 1854, that several tnumrnies Or dried
or frozen bodies OF great auks the skeletons being
Intact In the shrlvelled skins. were found. m.
Lucas and his party turned up the sod In different
places ana found rich deposits or aux bones THE
remains OF hundreds OF great auks were found
heaped together as II an army had toasted on the
fowls, anu, having picked the bones clean. threw
them into heap. This is explained by the fact
that the observation-disclosures, who appreciated
island Tor feathers. The great alks were scalded
like geese on the spot and stripped OF their feathers
their denuded bodies being thrown into h.aDs
where their bones were bieached by the SUMS
or many years. There Is now deposit OF earth
over them. Sometimes their oily bodies were
used as 1uel and the chaIred remains OF their
bones are found among the ashes. Funk Island is
lonely spot. Myriads OF sea birds make their
home there, and when an intruder comes they rise
hunters from Newfoundland and adjacent lands
come here In the spring to shoot the seals that
DRIFT down from the Arctic regions on tce-flOes
The Grampus party found where they wero dig
ging, cairn, or heap OF stones that marked the
lonely grave OF seal hunter His comrades had
placed his body in q chest and heaped
stones upon she chest. Many Of the
skulls and other parts OF the great aux
brought home by Mr.. Lucas are Quite perfect.
Ia hDrnS I'M faryf<, t1>Al1